Clan Aurias or Ross--Rose--Rose of Kilravock--Kenneth or
Mackenzie--Mackenzie of Gerloch or Gairloch--Mackenzies of Tarbet
and Royston--of Coul--Scatwell--Allangrange--Applecross--Ord
--Gruinard--Hilton--Mathieson or Clan Mhathain--Siol Alpine
--Macgregor--Dugald Ciar Mhor--Rob Roy--Grant--Grants of
Pluscardine--Ballindalloch--Glenmoriston--Lynachoarn--Aviemore
--Croskie--Dalvey--Monymusk--Kilgraston--Mackinnon--Macnab
--Duffie Macfie--Macquarrie--MacAulay.
Under the head of the Maormordom of Ross, Mr Skene, following the
genealogists, includes a considerable number of clans viz., the clan
Anrias or Ross, clan Kenneth or Mackenzie, clan Mathan or Mathieson;
and under the subordinate head of Siol Alpine, the clans Macgregor,
Grant, Mackinnon, Macnab, Macphie, Macquarrie, and Macaulay. We shall
speak of them in their order.
ROSS.
[Illustration: BADGE--Juniper.]
The clan ANRIAS or Ross--called in Gaelic _clan Roisch na Gille
Andras_, or the offspring of the follower of St Andrew--by which
can be meant only the chiefs or gentry of the clan, are descended
from the Earls of Ross, and through them from the ancient Maormors
of Ross. According to Mr Smibert, the mass of the clan Ross was
swallowed up by and adopted the name of the more powerful Mackenzies.
“The generality,” he says, “had never at any time borne the name
of Ross, the gentry of the sept only were so distinguished. Thus,
the common people, who must naturally have intermingled freely with
the real Mackenzies, would ere long retain only vague traditions
of their own descent; and when the days of regular registration,
and also of military enlistment, required and introduced the use of
stated names, the great body of the true Ross tribe would, without
doubt, be enrolled under the name of Mackenzie, the prevailing one of
the district. In all likelihood, therefore, the old Rosses are yet
numerous in Ross-shire.”
The first known Earl of Ross was Malcolm, who lived in the reign of
Malcolm the Maiden (1153-1165).
Ferquhard, the second earl, called _Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt_, or
son of the priest, at the head of the tribes of Moray, repulsed
Donald MacWilliam, the son of Donald Bane, when, soon after the
accession of Alexander II. in 1214, that restless chief made an
inroad from Ireland into that province.
William, third Earl of Ross, was one of the Scots nobles who entered
into an agreement, 8th March 1258, with Lewellyn, Prince of Wales,
that the Scots and Welsh should only make peace with England by
mutual consent.
William, fourth earl, was one of the witnesses to the treaty of Bruce
with Haco, King of Norway, 28th October 1312. With his clan he was
at the battle of Bannockburn, and he signed the memorable letter to
the Pope in 1320, asserting the independence of Scotland. He had two
sons, Hugh, his successor, and John, who with his wife, Margaret,
second daughter of Alexander Comyn, fourth Earl of Buchan, got the
half of her father’s lands in Scotland. He had also a daughter,
Isabel, who became the wife of Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick and King
of Ireland, brother of Robert the Bruce, 1st June 1317.
Hugh, the next Earl of Ross, fell, in 1333, at Halidonhill.
Hugh’s successor, William, left no male heir. His eldest daughter,
Euphemia, married Sir Walter Lesley of Lesley, Aberdeenshire, and
had a son, Alexander, Earl of Ross, and a daughter, Margaret. Earl
Alexander married a daughter of the Regent Albany, and his only
child, Euphemia, Countess of Ross, becoming a nun, she resigned the
earldom to her uncle John, Earl of Buchan, Albany’s second son. Her
aunt Margaret had married Donald, second Lord of the Isles, and that
potent chief assumed in her right the title of Earl of Ross, and took
possession of the earldom. This led to the battle of Harlaw in 1411.
On the death of the Earl of Buchan and Ross, at the battle of
Verneuil in France in 1424, the earldom of Ross reverted to the
crown. James I., on his return from his long captivity in England,
restored it to the heiress of line, the mother of Alexander, Lord
of the Isles, who, in 1420, had succeeded his father, Donald, above
mentioned. In 1429 he summoned together his vassals, both of Ross and
the Isles, and at the head of 10,000 men wasted the crown lands in
the vicinity of Inverness, and burned the town itself to the ground.
At the head of some troops, which he had promptly collected, the king
hastened, by forced marches, to Lochaber, and surprised the earl. The
mere display of the royal banner won over the clan Chattan and the
clan Cameron from his support, and he himself, suddenly attacked and
hotly pursued, was compelled to sue, but in vain, for peace. Driven
to despair, he resolved to cast himself on the royal mercy, and on
Easter Sunday, did so in the extraordinary manner narrated at p. 140
of this volume.
Alexander’s son, John, the next Earl of Ross and Lord of the Isles,
having joined the Earl of Douglas in his rebellion against James II.,
sent, in 1455, to the western coast of Scotland an expedition of 5000
men, under the command of his near kinsman, Donald Balloch, Lord of
Islay. With this force he desolated the whole coast from Innerkip to
Bute, the Cumbrays, and the island of Arran; but from the prudent
precautions taken by the king to repel the invaders, the loss was not
very considerable. The Earl of Ross afterwards made his submission,
and was received into the royal favour. On the accession of James
III., however, his rebellious disposition again showed itself. Edward
IV. of England having entered into a negotiation with him to detach
him from his allegiance, on the 19th October 1461, the Earl of Ross,
Donald Balloch, and his son, John of Islay, held a council of their
vassals and dependants at Astornish, at which it was agreed to send
ambassadors to England to treat with Edward, for assistance to effect
the entire conquest of Scotland. On the forfeiture of the Lord of the
Isles in 1476, the earldom of Ross became vested in the crown.
Hugh Ross of Rarichies, brother of the last Earl of Ross, obtained a
charter of the lands of Balnagowan in 1374, and on him by clan law
the chiefship devolved. In the beginning of the 18th century, Donald
Ross of Balnagowan, the last of his race, sold that estate to the
Hon. General Ross, the brother of the twelfth Lord Ross of Hawkhead,
who, although bearing the same surname, was not in any way related to
him.
In February 1778, Munro Ross of Pitcalnie presented a petition to
the king, claiming the earldom of Ross, as male descendant of the
above-named Hugh Ross of Rarichies. This petition was sent to the
House of Lords, but no decision appears to have followed upon it.
According to Mr Skene, Ross of Pitcalnie is the representative of
the ancient earls; but as this claim has been disputed, and as other
authorities think the Balnagowan family has a stronger claim to the
chiefship, we shall take the liberty of quoting what Mr Smibert says
on behalf of the latter:--“Mr Skene labours, with a pertinacity to us
almost incomprehensible, to destroy the pretensions of the house, to
represent the old Earls of Ross. He attempts to make out, firstly,
that Paul Mactyre (or Mactire), who headed for a time the clan Ross,
was the true heir-male of the fifth Earl of Ross, the last of the
first house; and that the Balnagowan family, therefore, had no claims
at that early time. He quotes ‘an ancient historian of Highland
families’ to prove the great power and possessions of Paul Mactyre,
the passage, as cited, running thus:--‘Paul Mactyre was a valiant
man, and caused Caithness to pay him black-mail. It is reported that
he got nyn score of cowes yearly out of Caithness for black-mail so
long as he was able to travel.’
“Now, there are a few words omitted in this citation. The original
document, now before us, begins thus: ‘Paull M’Tyre, aforesaid,
_grandchild to Leandris_;’ that is, grandchild to Gilleanrias, the
founder of the clan, and its name-giver. If he was the grandson of
the founder of the sept, Paul Mactyre could certainly never have been
the heir of the fifth Earl of Ross, unless he had lived to a most
unconscionable age. It would seem as if Mr Skene here erred from
the old cause--that is, from his not unnatural anxiety to enhance
the value and authenticity of the MS. of 1450, which was his own
discovery, and certainly was a document of great interest. That MS.
speaks of Paul Mactyre as heading the clan at a comparatively late
period. We greatly prefer the view of the case already given by us,
which is, that Paul Mactyre was either kinsman or _quasi_ tutor to
one of the first Ross earls, or successfully usurped their place for
a time.
“Besides, the ancient document quoted by Mr Skene to show the
greatness of Paul Mactyre, mentions also the marriage of ‘his
doughter and heire’ to Walter, laird of Balnagowne. If the document
be good for one thing, it must be held good also for others. Such a
marriage seems quite natural, supposing Mactyre to have been a near
kinsman of the Rosses.
“Perhaps too much has been already said on this subject to please
general readers; but one of our main objects is to give to clansmen
all the rational information procurable on their several family
histories.”
“Among another class of Rosses or Roses,” says the same authority,
“noticed by Nisbet as bearing distinct arms, the principal family
appears to be that of Rose of KILRAVOCK,” to which a number of landed
houses trace their origin. According to a tradition at one period
prevalent among the clan Donald, the first of the Kilravock family
came from Ireland, with one of the Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles.
There does not seem, however, to be any foundation for this, except,
perhaps, that as vassals of the Earls of Ross, the clan Rose were
connected for about half a century with the lordship of the Isles.
Mr Hugh Rose, the genealogist of the Kilravock family, is of opinion
that they were originally from England, and from their having three
water bougets in their coat armour, like the English family of Roos,
it has been conjectured that they were of the same stock. But these
figures were carried by other families than those of the name of Rose
or Roos. Four water bougets with a cross in the middle were the arms
of the Counts D’Eu in Normandy, and of the ancient Earls of Essex
in England of the surname of Bourchier. They were indicative of an
ancestor of the respective families who bore them having been engaged
in the crusades, and forced, in the deserts of Palestine, to fight
for and carry water in the leathern vessels called bougets, budgets,
or buckets, which were usually slung across the horse or camel’s
back. The badge of the Roses is Wild Rosemary.
The family of Rose of Kilravock appear to have been settled in the
county of Nairn since the reign of David I.
MACKENZIE.
[Illustration: BADGE--Deer Grass.]
The clan Kenneth or Mackenzie has long cherished a traditionary
belief in its descent from the Norman family of Fitzgerald settled
in Ireland. Its pretensions to such an origin are founded upon a
fragment of the records of Icolmkill, and a charter of the lands
of Kintail in Wester Ross, said to have been granted by Alexander
III. to Colin Fitzgerald, their supposed progenitor. According to
the Icolmkill fragment, a personage described as “Peregrinus et
Hibernus nobilis ex familia Geraldinorum,” that is, “a noble stranger
and Hibernian, of the family of the Geraldines,” being driven from
Ireland, with a considerable number of followers, about 1261, was
received graciously by the king, and remained thenceforward at the
court. Having given powerful aid to the Scots at the battle of
Largs two years afterwards, he was rewarded by a grant of Kintail,
erected into a free barony by charter dated 9th January, 1266. No
such document, however, as this pretended fragment of Icolmkill is
known to be in existence, at least, as Mr Skene says, nobody has
ever seen it, and as for King Alexander’s charter, he declares[216]
that “it bears the most palpable marks of having been a forgery of
later date, and one by no means happy in the execution.” Besides, the
words “Colino Hiberno,” contained in it, do not prove the said Colin
to have been an Irishman, as Hiberni was at that period a common
appellation of the Gael of Scotland.
The ancestor of the clan Kenzie was Gilleon-og, or Colin the younger,
a son of Gilleon na hair’de, that is, Colin of the Aird, progenitor
of the Earls of Ross, and from the MS. of 1450 their Gaelic descent
may be considered established. Colin of Kintail is said to have
married a daughter of Walter, lord high steward of Scotland. He died
in 1278, and his son, Kenneth, being, in 1304, succeeded by his son,
also called Kenneth, with the addition of Mackenneth, the latter,
softened into Mackenny or Mackenzie, became the name of the whole
clan. Murdoch, or Murcha, the son of Kenneth, received from David II.
a charter of the lands of Kintail as early as 1362. At the beginning
of the 15th century, the clan Kenzie appears to have been both
numerous and powerful, for its chief, Kenneth More, when arrested, in
1427, with his son-in-law, Angus of Moray, and Macmathan, by James I.
in his parliament at Inverness, was said to be able to muster 2,000
men.
In 1463, Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail received Strathgarve and
many other lands from John, Earl of Ross, the same who was forfeited
in 1476. The Mackenzie chiefs were originally vassals of the Earls
of Ross, but after their forfeiture, they became independent of any
superior but the crown. They strenuously opposed the Macdonalds in
every attempt which they made to regain possession of the earldom.
Alexander was succeeded by his son, Kenneth, who had taken for his
first wife Lady Margaret Macdonald, daughter of the forfeited earl,
John, Lord of the Isles, and having, about 1480, divorced his wife,
he brought upon himself the resentment of her family.
Kenneth Oig, his son by the divorced wife, was chief in 1493. Two
years afterwards, he and Farquhar Mackintosh were imprisoned by
James V. in the castle of Edinburgh. In 1497, Ross and Mackintosh
made their escape, but on their way to the Highlands they were
treacherously seized at the Torwood, by the laird of Buchanan.
Kenneth Oig resisted and was slain, and his head presented to the
king by Buchanan.
Kenneth Oig having no issue, was succeeded by his brother, John,
whose mother, Agnes Fraser, was a daughter of Lord Lovat. She had
other sons, from whom sprung numerous branches of this wide-spread
family. As he was very young, his kinsman, Hector Roy Mackenzie,
progenitor of the house of Gairloch, assumed the command of the
clan, as guardian of the young chief. “Under his rule,” says Mr
Gregory,[217] “the clan Kenzie became involved in feuds with the
Munroes and other clans; and Hector Roy himself became obnoxious
to government, as a disturber of the public peace. His intentions
towards the young Lord of Kintail were considered very dubious; and
the apprehensions of the latter and his friends having been roused,
Hector was compelled by law to yield up the estate and the command
of the tribe to the proper heir.” John, at the call of James IV.,
marched with his clan to the fatal field of Flodden, where he was
taken prisoner by the English.
On King James the Fifth’s expedition to the Isles in 1540, he was
joined at Kintail by John, chief of the Mackenzies, who accompanied
him throughout his voyage. He fought at the battle of Pinkie at the
head of his clan in 1547. On his death in 1556, he was succeeded by
his son, Kenneth, who, by a daughter of the Earl of Athole, had Colin
and Roderick, the latter ancestor of the Mackenzies of Redcastle,
Kincraig, Rosend, and other branches.
Colin, eleventh chief, son of Kenneth, fought on the side of Queen
Mary at the battle of Langside. He was twice married. By his first
wife, Barbara, a daughter of Grant of Grant, he had, with three
daughters, four sons, namely, Kenneth, his successor; Sir Roderick
Mackenzie of Tarbat, ancestor of the Earls of Cromarty; Colin,
ancestor of the Mackenzies of Kennock and Pitlundie; and Alexander,
of the Mackenzies of Kilcoy, and other families of the name. By
a second wife, Mary, eldest daughter of Roderick Mackenzie of
Davoch-maluak, he had a son, Alexander, from whom the Mackenzies of
Applecross, Coul, Delvin, Assint, and other families are sprung.
Kenneth, the eldest son, twelfth chief of the Mackenzies, soon after
succeeding his father, was engaged in supporting the claims of
Torquil Macleod, surnamed Connanach, the disinherited son of Macleod
of Lewis, whose mother was the sister of John Mackenzie of Kintail,
and whose daughter had married Roderick Mackenzie, Kenneth’s brother.
The barony of Lewis he conveyed by writings to the Mackenzie chief,
who caused the usurper thereof and some of his followers to be
beheaded in July 1597. In the following year he joined Macleod of
Harris and Macdonald of Sleat in opposing the project of James VI.
for the colonization of the Lewis, by some Lowland gentlemen, chiefly
belonging to Fife.
In 1601, Neill Macleod deserted the cause of the colonists, and
Mackenzie, who had detained in captivity for several years Tormod,
the only surviving legitimate son of Ruari Macleod of the Lewis,
set him at liberty, and sent him into that island to assist Neill
in opposing the settlers. In 1602, the feud between the Mackenzies
and the Glengarry Macdonalds, regarding their lands in Wester Ross,
was renewed with great violence. Ultimately, after much bloodshed
on both sides, an agreement was entered into, by which Glengarry
renounced in favour of Mackenzie the castle of Strone, with the lands
of Lochalsh, Lochcarron, and others, so long the subject of dispute
between them. A crown charter of these lands was granted to Kenneth
Mackenzie in 1607. The territories of the clan Kenzie at this time
were very extensive. “All the Highlands and Isles, from Ardnamurchan
to Strathnaver, were either the Mackenzies’ property, or under their
vassalage, some few excepted,” and all about them were bound to
them “by very strict bonds of friendship.” The same year, Kenneth
Mackenzie obtained, through the influence of the lord-chancellor, a
gift, under the great seal, of the Lewis to himself, in virtue of
the resignation formerly made in his favour by Torquil Macleod; but
on the complaint to the king of those of the colonists who survived,
he was forced to resign it. He was created a peer, by the title of
Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, by patent, dated 19th November 1609. On
the abandonment of the scheme for colonising the Lewis, the remaining
adventurers, Sir George Hay and Sir James Spens, were easily
prevailed upon to sell their title to Lord Kintail, who likewise
succeeded in obtaining from the king a grant of the share in the
island forfeited by Lord Balmerino, another of the grantees. Having
thus at length acquired a legal right to the Lewis, he procured from
the government a commission of fire and sword against the Islanders,
and landing there with a large force, he speedily reduced them to
obedience, with the exception of Neil Macleod and a few others,
his kinsmen and followers. The struggle for the Lewis between the
Mackenzies and the Macleods continued some time longer; an account
of it has been already given. The Mackenzies ultimately succeeded in
obtaining possession of the island.
Lord Kintail died in March 1611. He had married, first, Anne,
daughter of George Ross of Balnagowan, and had, with two daughters,
two sons, Colin, second Lord Kintail, and first Earl of Seaforth,
and the Hon. John Mackenzie of Lochslin. His second wife was Isabel,
daughter of Sir Alexander Ogilvie of Powrie, by whom, with a
daughter, Sybilla, Mrs Macleod of Macleod, he had four sons, viz.,
Alexander; George, second Earl of Seaforth; Thomas of Pluscardine;
and Simon of Lochslin, whose eldest son was the celebrated Sir George
Mackenzie of Rosehaugh, lord advocate in the reigns of Charles II.
and James VII.
[Illustration: Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh. From a painting by
Sir Godfrey Kneller.]
Colin, second Lord Kintail, was created Earl of Seaforth, by patent
dated at Theobald’s, 3d December 1623, to him and his heirs male.
The great-grandson of the third Earl of Seaforth, and male heir of
the family, was Colonel Thomas Frederick Humberston Mackenzie, who
fell at Gheriah in India in 1783. His brother, Francis Humberston
Mackenzie, obtained the Seaforth estates, and was created Baron
Seaforth in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1796. Dying without
surviving male issue, his title became extinct, and his eldest
daughter, the Hon. Mary Frederica Elizabeth, having taken for her
second husband J. A. Stewart of Glaserton, a cadet of the house of
Galloway, that gentleman assumed the name of Stewart Mackenzie of
Seaforth.
The clan Kenzie from small beginnings had increased in territory
and influence till they became, next to the Campbells, the greatest
clan in the West Highlands. They remained loyal to the Stuarts, but
the forfeiture of the Earl of Seaforth in 1715, and of the Earl of
Cromarty in 1745, weakened their power greatly. They are still,
however, one of the most numerous tribes in the Highlands. In 1745
their effective strength was calculated at 2500. No fewer than seven
families of the name possess baronetcies.
The armorial bearings of the Mackenzies are a stag’s head and horns.
It is said that they were assumed in consequence of Kenneth, the
ancestor of the family, having rescued the king of Scotland from
an infuriated stag, which he had wounded. “In gratitude for his
assistance,” says Stewart of Garth, “the king gave him a grant of the
castle and lands of Castle Donnan, and thus laid the foundation of
the family and clan Mackenneth or Mackenzie.” From the stag’s head in
their arms the term “Caberfae” was applied to the chiefs.
The progenitor of the GERLOCH or GAIRLOCH branch of the Mackenzies
was, as above shown, Hector, the elder of the two sons of Alexander,
seventh chief, by his second wife, Margaret Macdowall, daughter of
John, Lord of Lorn. He lived in the reigns of Kings James III. and
IV., and was by the Highlanders called “Eachin Roy,” or Red Hector,
from the colour of his hair. To the assistance of the former of
these monarchs, when the confederated nobles collected in arms
against him, he raised a considerable body of the clan Kenzie, and
fought at their head at the battle of Sauchieburn. After the defeat
of his party, he retreated to the north, and, taking possession of
Redcastle, put a garrison in it. Thereafter he joined the Earl of
Huntly, and from James IV. he obtained in 1494 a grant of the lands
and barony of Gerloch, or Gairloch, in Ross-shire. These lands
originally belonged to the Siol-Vic-Gilliechallum, or Macleods of
Rasay, a branch of the family of Lewis; but Hector, by means of a
mortgage or wadset, had acquired a small portion of them, and in 1508
he got Brachan, the lands of Moy, the royal forest of Glassiter, and
other lands, united to them. In process of time, his successors came
to possess the whole district, but not till after a long and bloody
feud with the Siol-Vic-Gilliechallum, which lasted till 1611, when it
was brought to a sudden close by a skirmish, in which Gilliechallum
Oig, laird of Rasay, and Murdoch Mackenzie, a younger son of the
laird of Gairloch, were slain. From that time the Mackenzies
possessed Gairloch without interruption from the Macleods.
Kenneth Mackenzie, eighth Baron of Gairloch, was created a baronet of
Nova Scotia in 1700. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Roderick
Mackenzie of Findon, and was succeeded, in 1704, by his son, Sir
Alexander, second baronet. His eldest son, Sir Alexander, third
baronet, married--first, Margaret, eldest daughter of Roderick
Mackenzie of Redcastle, issue one son, Hector; second, Jean, only
daughter of John Gorrie, Esq., commissary of Ross, issue two sons,
John, a general officer, and Kenneth, an officer in India, and three
daughters. He died 13th April 1770.
Sir Hector Mackenzie, his eldest son, fourth baronet of the Gairloch
branch, died in April 1826. His son, Sir Francis Alexander, fifth
baronet, born in 1798, died June 2, 1843. The eldest son of Sir
Francis, Sir Kenneth Smith Mackenzie, sixth baronet, born 1832,
married in 1860 the second daughter of Walter Frederick Campbell of
Islay.
The first of the Mackenzies of TARBET and ROYSTON, in the county of
Cromarty, was Sir Roderick Mackenzie, second son of Colin Mackenzie
of Kintail, brother of the first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail. Having
married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Torquil Macleod of the
Lewes, he added the armorial bearings of the Macleods to his own. His
son, John Mackenzie of Tarbet, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia,
21st May 1628. He had four sons.
The eldest son, Sir George Mackenzie, second baronet, was the first
Earl of Cromarty. His eldest son becoming a bankrupt, his estate of
Cromarty was sold in 1741 to William Urquhart of Meldrum. He was
succeeded by his brother, Sir Kenneth, fourth baronet, at whose
death, without issue, in 1763, the baronetcy lay dormant until
revived in favour of Sir Alexander Mackenzie of Tarbet, elder
son of Robert Mackenzie, lieutenant-colonel in the East India
Company’s service, great-great-grandson of the first baronet.
Colonel Mackenzie’s father was Alexander Mackenzie of Ardlock, and
his mother the daughter of Robert Sutherland, Esq. of Langwell,
Caithness, twelfth in descent from William de Sutherland, fifth Earl
of Sutherland, and the Princess Margaret Bruce, sister and heiress of
David II. Sir Alexander, fifth baronet, was in the military service
of the East India Company. On his death, April 28, 1843, his brother,
Sir James Wemyss Mackenzie, became sixth baronet of Tarbet and
Royston. He died November 24, 1858, and was succeeded by his son, Sir
James John Randoll Mackenzie.
The first of the family of COUL, Ross-shire, was Alexander Mackenzie,
brother of Kenneth, first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, who, before his
death, made him a present of his own sword, as a testimony of his
particular esteem and affection. His son, Kenneth Mackenzie of Coul,
was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, October 16, 1673. His eldest
son, Sir Alexander, second baronet, died in 1702. His son, Sir John
Mackenzie, third baronet, for being concerned in the rebellion of
1715, was forfeited. He died without male issue, and the attainder
not extending to collateral branches of the family, the title and
estates devolved upon his brother, Sir Colin, fourth baronet, clerk
to the pipe in the exchequer. He died in 1740.
The Mackenzies of SCATWELL, Ross-shire, who also possess a baronetcy,
are descended from Sir Roderick Mackenzie, knight, of Tarbet and
Cogeach, second son of Colin, eleventh feudal baron of Kintail,
father of Sir John Mackenzie, ancestor of the Earls of Cromarty,
and Kenneth Mackenzie of Scatwell, whose son, Kenneth, was created
a baronet of Nova Scotia, February 22, 1703. By his marriage with
Lilias, daughter and heiress of Sir Roderick Mackenzie of Findon,
that branch of the Mackenzie family merged in that of Scatwell.
Other principal families of the name are Mackenzie of ALLANGRANGE,
heir male of the Earls of Seaforth; of APPLECROSS, also a branch of
the house of Seaforth; of ORD, of GRUINARD, and of HILTON, all in
Ross-shire.
MATHIESON.
The name MATHIESON, or Clan _Mhathain_, is said to come from the
Gaelic _Mathaineach_, heroes, or rather, from Mathan, pronounced
Mahan, a bear. The MacMathans were settled in Lochalsh, a district
of Wester Ross, from an early period. They are derived by ancient
genealogies from the same stock as the Earls of Ross and are
represented by the MS. of 1450 as a branch of the Mackenzies.
Kenneth MacMathan, who was constable of the castle of Ellandonan, is
mentioned both in the Norse account of the expedition of the king
of Norway against Scotland in 1263, and in the Chamberlain’s Rolls
for that year, in connection with that expedition. He is said to
have married a sister of the Earl of Ross. The chief of the clan was
engaged in the rebellion of Donald, Lord of the Isles, in 1411, and
was one of the chiefs arrested at Inverness by James I., in 1427,
when he is said to have been able to muster 2000 men. The possessions
of the Mathiesons, at one time very extensive, were greatly reduced,
in the course of the 16th century, by feuds with their turbulent
neighbours, the Macdonalds of Glengarry.
Of this clan Mr Skene says,--“Of the history of this clan we know
nothing whatever. Although they are now extinct, they must at one
time have been one of the most powerful clans in the north, for among
the Highland chiefs seized by James I. at the parliament held at
Inverness in 1427, Bower mentions Macmaken leader of two thousand
men, and this circumstance affords a most striking instance of the
rise and fall of different families; for, while the Mathison appears
at that early period as the leader of two thousand men, the Mackenzie
has the same number only, and we now see the clan of Mackenzie
extending their numberless branches over a great part of the North,
and possessing an extent of territory of which few families can
exhibit a parallel, while the one powerful clan of the Mathisons has
disappeared, and their name become nearly forgotten.”
SIOL ALPINE.
Under the general denomination of Siol Alpine are included several
clans situated at considerable distances from one another, but all
of them supposed to have been descended from Kenneth Macalpine, the
founder of the Scottish monarchy, and the ancestor of a long line of
Scottish kings. The validity of this lofty pretension has, however,
been disputed; and, in point of fact, it appears that the clans,
composing the Siol Alpine, were never united under the authority
of a common chief, but, on the contrary, were, from the earliest
period, at variance amongst themselves; in consequence of which they
sunk into insignificance, and became of little account or importance
in a general estimate of the Highland tribes. The principal clan
appears to have been that of the Macgregors, a race famous for their
misfortunes as well as the unbroken spirit with which they maintained
themselves linked and banded together in spite of the most severe
laws executed with the greatest rigour against all who bore this
proscribed name.
MACGREGOR.
THE MACGREGORS are generally esteemed one of the purest of all the
Celtic tribes, and there seems to be no doubt of their unmixed and
direct descent from the ancient Celtic inhabitants of Scotland.
They were once numerous in Balquhidder and Menteith, and also in
Glenorchy, which appears to have been their original seat. An air of
romance has been thrown around this particular clan from the exploits
and adventures of the celebrated Rob Roy, and the cruel sufferings
and proscriptions to which they were, at different times, subjected
by the government.
MACGREGOR.
[Illustration: BADGE--Pine.]
Claiming a regal origin, their motto anciently was, “My race is
royal.” Griogar, said to have been the third son of Alpin, king of
Scotland, who commenced his reign in 833, is mentioned as their
remote ancestor, but it is impossible to trace their descent from any
such personage, or from his eldest brother, Kenneth Macalpine, from
whom they also claim to be sprung.
According to Buchanan of Auchmar, the clan Gregor were located in
Glenorchy as early as the reign of Malcolm Canmore (1057-1093).
As, however, they were in the reign of Alexander II. (1214-1249)
vassals of the Earl of Ross, Skene thinks it probable that Glenorchy
was given to them, when that monarch conferred a large extent of
territory on that potent noble. Hugh of Glenorchy appears to have
been the first of their chiefs who was so styled. Malcolm, the chief
of the clan in the days of Bruce, fought bravely on the national side
at the battle of Bannockburn. He accompanied Edward Bruce to Ireland,
and being severely wounded at Dundalk, he was ever afterwards known
as “the lame lord.”
[Illustration: MACGREGOR. (Tartan)]
In the reign of David II., the Campbells managed to procure a legal
title to the lands of Glenorchy; nevertheless, the Macgregors
maintained, for a long time, the actual possession of them by the
strong hand. They knew no other right than that of the sword, but,
ultimately, that was found unavailing, and, at last, expelled from
their own territory, they became an outlawed, lawless, and landless
clan.
John Macgregor of Glenorchy, who died in 1390, is said to have had
three sons: Patrick, his successor; John Dow, ancestor of the family
of Glenstrae, who became the chief of the clan; and Gregor, ancestor
of the Macgregors of Roro. Patrick’s son, Malcolm, was compelled by
the Campbells to sell the lands of Auchinrevach in Strathfillan,
to Campbell of Glenorchy, who thus obtained the first footing in
Breadalbane, which afterwards gave the title of earl to his family.
The principal families of the Macgregors, in process of time, except
that of Glenstrae, who held that estate as vassals of the Earl of
Argyll, found themselves reduced to the position of tenants on
the lands of Campbell of Glenorchy and other powerful barons. It
being the policy of the latter to get rid of them altogether, the
unfortunate clan were driven, by a continuous system of oppression
and annoyance, to acts of rapine and violence, which brought upon
them the vengeance of the government. The clan had no other means of
subsistence than the plunder of their neighbours’ property, and as
they naturally directed their attacks chiefly against those who had
wrested from them their own lands, it became still more the interest
of their oppressors to represent to the king that nothing could put
a stop to their lawless conduct, “save the cutting off the tribe
of Macgregor root and branch.” In 1488, soon after the youthful
James IV. had ascended the throne which the murder of his father
had rendered vacant, an act was passed “for staunching of thiftreif
and other enormities throw all the realme;” evidently designed
against the Macgregors, for among the barons to whom power was given
for enforcing it, were Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, Neil Stewart
of Fortingall, and Ewin Campbell of Strachur. At this time the
Macgregors were still a numerous clan. Besides those in Glenorchy,
they were settled in great numbers in the districts of Breadalbane
and Athol, and they all acknowledged Macgregor of Glenstrae, who bore
the title of captain of the clan, as their chief.
With the view of reducing these branches, Sir Duncan Campbell of
Glenorchy obtained, in 1492, the office of bailiary of the crown
lands of Disher and Toyer, Glenlyon, and Glendochart, and in 1502 he
procured a charter of the lands of Glenlyon. “From this period,” says
Mr Skene, “the history of the Macgregors consists of a mere list of
acts of privy council, by which commissions are granted to pursue the
clan with fire and sword, and of various atrocities which a state
of desperation, the natural result of these measures, as well as a
deep spirit of vengeance, against both the framers and executors
of them, frequently led the clan to committ. These actions led to
the enactment of still severer laws, and at length to the complete
proscription of the clan.”
But still the Macgregors were not subdued. Taking refuge in their
mountain fastnesses, they set at defiance all the efforts made by
their enemies for their entire extermination, and inflicted upon
some of them a terrible vengeance. In 1589 they seized and murdered
John Drummond of Drummond Ernoch, a forester of the royal forest
of Glenartney, an act which forms the foundation of the incident
detailed in Sir Walter Scott’s “Legend of Montrose.” The clan swore
upon the head of the victim that they would avow and defend the deed
in common. An outrage like this led at once to the most rigorous
proceedings on the part of the crown. Fresh letters of fire and
sword for three years were issued against the whole clan, and all
persons were interdicted from harbouring or having any communication
with them. Then followed the conflict at Glenfruin in 1603, when the
Macgregors, under Alexander Macgregor of Glenstrae, their chief,
defeated the Colquhouns, under the laird of Luss, and 140 of the
latter were killed. Details of this celebrated clan battle have been
already given in the former part of this work, and more will be found
under the Colquhouns. Dugald Ciar Mohr, ancestor of Rob Roy, is said
on this occasion to have exhibited extraordinary ferocity and courage.
In relation to the betrayal and melancholy end of the unfortunate
chief, Alexander, Macgregor of Glenstrae, there is the following
entry in the MS. diary of Robert Birrell: “The 2 of October (1603,)
Allester M’Gregour Glainstretane be the laird of Arkynles, bot
escapit againe; bot efter, taken be the Earle of Argyill the 4 of
Januar; and brocht to Edinburghe the 9 of Januar 1604, with mae of 18
his friendis, M’Gregouris. He wes convoyit to Berwick be the gaird,
conforme to the earlis promese; for he promesit to put him out of
Scottis grund. Swa he keipit ane Hieland-manis promes; in respect he
sent the gaird to convoy him out of Scottis grund: Bot thai wer not
directit to pairt with him back agane! The 18 of Januar, at evine, he
come agane to Edinburghe; and vpone the 20 day, he was hangit at the
croce, and ij (eleven) of his freindis and name, upone ane gallous:
Himselff, being chieff, he was hangit his awin hicht above the rest
of his friendis.” That Argyll had an interest in his death appears
from a declaration, printed in Pitcairn’s _Criminal Trials_,[218]
which the chief made before his execution, wherein he says that the
earl had enticed him to commit several slaughters and disorders, and
had endeavoured to prevail upon him to commit “sundrie mair.”
Among other severe measures passed against this doomed clan was
one which deprived them of their very name. By an act of the privy
council, dated 3d April 1603, all of the name of Macgregor were
compelled, on pain of death, to adopt another surname, and all who
had been engaged at the battle of Glenfruin, and other marauding
expeditions detailed in the act, were prohibited, also under the
pain of death, from carrying any weapon but a knife without a point
to cut their victuals. They were also forbidden, under the same
penalty of death, to meet in greater numbers than four at a time.
The Earls of Argyll and Athole were charged with the execution of
these enactments, and it has been shown how the former carried out
the task assigned to him. With regard to the ill-fated chief so
treacherously “done to death” by him, the following interesting
tradition is related:--His son, while out hunting one day, met the
young laird of Lamond travelling with a servant from Cowal towards
Inverlochy. They dined together at a house on the Blackmount, between
Tyndrum and King’s House; but having unfortunately quarrelled during
the evening, dirks were drawn, and the young Macgregor was killed.
Lamond instantly fled, and was closely pursued by some of the clan
Gregor. Outstripping his foes, he reached the house of the chief of
Glenstrae, whom he besought earnestly, without stating his crime,
to afford him protection. “You are safe with me,” said the chief,
“whatever you may have done.” On the pursuers arriving, they informed
the unfortunate father of what had occurred, and demanded the
murderer; but Macgregor refused to deliver him up, as he had passed
his word to protect him. “Let none of you dare to injure the man,”
he exclaimed; “Macgregor has promised him safety, and, as I live,
he shall be safe while with me.” He afterwards, with a party of his
clan, escorted the youth home; and, on bidding him farewell, said,
“Lamond, you are now safe on your own land. I cannot, and I will not
protect you farther! Keep away from my people; and may God forgive
you for what you have done!” Shortly afterwards the name of Macgregor
was proscribed, and the chief of Glenstrae became a wanderer without
a name or a home. But the laird of Lamond, remembering that he owed
his life to him, hastened to protect the old chief and his family,
and not only received the fugitives into his house, but shielded them
for a time from their enemies.
Logan states, that on the death of Alexander, the executed chief,
without surviving lawful issue, the clan, then in a state of
disorder, elected a chief, but the head of the collateral branch,
deeming Gregor, the natural son of the late chief, better entitled
to the honour, without ceremony dragged the chief-elect from his
inaugural chair in the kirk of Strathfillan, and placed Gregor
therein, in his stead.
The favourite names assumed by the clan while compelled to relinquish
their own, were Campbell, Graham, Stewart, and Drummond. Their unity
as a clan remained unbroken, and they even seemed to increase in
numbers, notwithstanding all the oppressive proceedings directed
against them. These did not cease with the reign of James VI., for
under Charles I. all the enactments against them were renewed, and
yet in 1644, when the Marquis of Montrose set up the king’s standard
in the Highlands, the clan Gregor, to the number of 1000 fighting
men, joined him, under the command of Patrick Macgregor of Glenstrae,
their chief. In reward for their loyalty, at the Restoration the
various statutes against them were annulled, when the clan men were
enabled to resume their own name. In the reign of William III.,
however, the penal enactments against them were renewed in their full
force. The clan were again proscribed, and compelled once more to
take other names.
[Illustration: Rob Roy. From an original painting in the possession
of Herbert Buchanan, Esq., of Arden.]
According to Buchanan of Auchmar, the direct male line of the
chiefs became extinct in the reign of the latter monarch, and the
representation fell, by “a formal renunciation of the chiefship,”
into the branch of Glengyle. Of this branch was the celebrated ROB
ROY, that is, Red Rob, who assumed the name of Campbell under the
proscriptive act.
As we promised in the former part of the work, we shall here give
some account of this celebrated robber-chief. Born about 1660, he was
the younger son of Donald Macgregor of Glengyle, a lieutenant-colonel
in the service of King James VII., by his wife, the daughter of
William Campbell of Glenfalloch, the third son of Sir Robert Campbell
of Glenorchy. Rob Roy himself married Helen-Mary, the daughter of
Macgregor of Cromar. His own designation was that of Inversnaid, but
he seems to have acquired a right to the property of Craig Royston, a
domain of rock and forest lying on the east side of Loch Lomond. He
became tutor to his nephew, the head of the Glengyle branch, then in
his minority, who claimed the chiefship of the clan.
Like many other Highland gentlemen, Rob Roy was a trader in cattle
or master drover, and in this capacity he had borrowed several
sums of money from the Duke of Montrose, but becoming insolvent,
he absconded. In June 1712 an advertisement appeared for his
apprehension, and he was involved in prosecutions which nearly
ruined him. Some messengers of the law who visited his house in his
absence are said to have abused his wife in a most shameful manner,
and she, being a high-spirited woman, incited her husband to acts
of vengeance. At the same time, she gave vent to her feelings in a
fine piece of pipe music, still well known by the name of “Rob Roy’s
Lament.” As the duke had contrived to get possession of Rob’s lands
of Craig Royston, he was driven to become the “bold outlaw” which he
is represented in song and story.
“Determined,” says General Stewart of Garth, “that his grace should
not enjoy his lands with impunity, he collected a band of about
twenty followers, declared open war against him, and gave up his old
course of regular droving, declaring that the estate of Montrose
should in future supply him with cattle, and that he would make the
duke rue the day he quarrelled with him. He kept his word; and for
nearly thirty years--that is, till the day of his death--regularly
levied contributions on the duke and his tenants, not by nightly
depredations, but in broad day, and in a systematic manner; on
an appointed time making a complete sweep of all the cattle of a
district--always passing over those not belonging to the duke’s
estates, or the estates of his friends and adherents; and having
previously given notice where he was to be on a certain day with his
cattle, he was met there by people from all parts of the country,
to whom he sold them publicly. These meetings, or trysts, as they
were called, were held in different parts of the country; sometimes
the cattle were driven south, but oftener to the north and west,
where the influence of his friend the Duke of Argyll protected him.
When the cattle were in this manner driven away, the tenants paid no
rent, so that the duke was the ultimate sufferer. But he was made to
suffer in every way. The rents of the lower farms were partly paid
in grain and meal, which was generally lodged in a store-house or
granary, called a _girnal_, near the Loch of Monteath. When Macgregor
wanted a supply of meal, he sent notice to a certain number of the
duke’s tenants to meet him at the girnal on a certain day, with
their horses to carry home his meal. They met accordingly, when he
ordered the horses to be loaded, and, giving a regular receipt to
his grace’s storekeeper for the quantity taken, he marched away,
always entertaining the people very handsomely, and careful never to
take the meal till it had been lodged in the duke’s store-house in
payment of rent. When the money rents were paid, Macgregor frequently
attended. On one occasion, when Mr Graham of Killearn, the factor,
had collected the tenants to pay their rents, all Rob Roy’s men
happened to be absent, except Alexander Stewart, called ‘the bailie.’
With this single attendant he descended to Chapel Errock, where the
factor and the tenants were assembled. He reached the house after
it was dark, and, looking in at a window, saw Killearn, surrounded
by a number of the tenants, with a bag full of money which he had
received, and was in the act of depositing it in a press or cupboard,
at the same time saying that he would cheerfully give all that he
had in the bag for Rob Roy’s head. This notification was not lost
on the outside visitor, who instantly gave orders in a loud voice
to place two men at each window, two at each corner, and four at
each of two doors, thus appearing to have twenty men. Immediately
the door opened, and he walked in with his attendant close behind,
each armed with a sword in his right hand and a pistol in his left
hand, and with dirks and pistols slung in their belts. The company
started up, but he desired them to sit down, as his business was only
with Killearn, whom he ordered to hand down the bag and put it on
the table. When this was done, he desired the money to be counted,
and proper receipts to be drawn out, certifying that he received the
money from the Duke of Montrose’s agent, as the duke’s property, the
tenants having paid their rents, so that no after demand could be
made on them on account of this transaction; and finding that some of
the people had not obtained receipts, he desired the factor to grant
them immediately, ‘to show his grace,’ said he, ‘that it is from him
I take the money, and not from these honest men who have paid him.’
After the whole was concluded, he ordered supper, saying that, as he
had got the purse, it was proper he should pay the bill; and after
they had drunk heartily together for several hours, he called his
bailie to produce his dirk, and lay it naked on the table. Killearn
was then sworn that he would not move, nor direct any one else to
move, from that spot for an hour after the departure of Macgregor,
who thus cautioned him--‘If you break your oath, you know what you
are to expect in the next world, and in this,’ pointing to his dirk.
He then walked away, and was beyond pursuit before the hour expired.”
At the breaking out of the rebellion of 1715, in spite of the
obligations which he owed to the indirect protection of the Duke of
Argyll, Rob Roy’s Jacobite partialities induced him to join the rebel
forces under the Earl of Mar.
On this occasion none of the Clan Gregor, except the sept of Ciar
Mohr, to which Rob Roy belonged, took up arms for the Chevalier,
though they were joined by connexions of the family, and among
others by Leckie of Croy-Leckie, a large landed proprietor in
Dumbartonshire, who had married a daughter of Donald M’Gregor, by his
wife the daughter of Campbell of Glenfalloch, and who was thus the
brother-in-law of Rob Roy. “They were not,” says Sir Walter Scott,
“commanded by Rob Roy, but by his nephew already mentioned, Gregor
Macgregor, otherwise called James Grahame of Glengyle, and still
better remembered by the Gaelic epithet of _Ghlune Dhu_, _i.e._ Black
Knee, from a black spot on one of his knees, which his Highland garb
rendered visible. There can be no question, however, that being then
very young, Glengyle must have acted on most occasions by the advice
and direction of so experienced a leader as his uncle. The Macgregors
assembled in numbers at that period, and began even to threaten the
lowlands towards the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. They suddenly
seized all the boats which were upon the lake, and, probably with
a view to some enterprise of their own, drew them overland to
Inversnaid, in order to intercept the progress of a large body of
west country whigs who were in arms for the government, and moving in
that direction. The whigs made an excursion for the recovery of the
boats. Their forces consisted of volunteers from Paisley, Kilpatrick,
and elsewhere, who, with the assistance of a body of seamen, were
towed up the river Leven in long boats belonging to the ships of war
then lying in the Clyde. At Luss, they were joined by the forces of
Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, and James Grant, his son-in-law, with their
followers, attired in the Highland dress of the period, which is
picturesquely described. The whole party crossed to Craig Royston,
but the Macgregors did not offer combat. If we were to believe the
account of the expedition given by the historian Rae, they leaped
on shore at Craig Royston with the utmost intrepidity, no enemy
appearing to oppose them, and by the noise of their drums, which they
beat incessantly, and the discharge of their artillery and small
arms, terrified the Macgregors, whom they appear never to have seen,
out of their fastnesses, and caused them to fly in a panic to the
general camp of the Highlanders at Strathfillan. The low-countrymen
succeeded in getting possession of the boats, at a great expenditure
of noise and courage, and little risk of danger.
“After this temporary removal from his old haunts, Rob Roy was sent
by the Earl of Mar to Aberdeen, to raise, it is believed, a part
of the clan Gregor, which is settled in that country. These men
were of his own family (the race of the Ciar Mohr). They were the
descendants of about three hundred Macgregors whom the Earl of Moray,
about the year 1624, transported from his estates in Monteith to
oppose against his enemies the Mackintoshes, a race as hardy and
restless as they were themselves. We have already stated that Rob
Roy’s conduct during the insurrection of 1715 was very equivocal.
His person and followers were in the Highland army, but his heart
seems to have been with the Duke of Argyll’s. Yet the insurgents were
constrained to trust to him as their only guide, when they marched
from Perth towards Dunblane, with the view of crossing the Forth at
what are called the Fords of Frew, and when they themselves said he
could not be relied upon.
“This movement to the westward, on the part of the insurgents,
brought on the battle of Sheriffmuir; indecisive, indeed, in its
immediate results, but of which the Duke of Argyll reaped the whole
advantage.” We have already given an account of Rob Roy’s vacillating
behaviour at this battle. “One of the Macphersons, named Alexander,
one of Rob’s original profession, _videlicet_ a drover, but a man
of great strength and spirit, was so incensed at the inactivity of
his temporary leader, that he threw off his plaid, drew his sword,
and called out to his clansmen, ‘Let us endure this no longer! if he
will not lead you, I will.’ Rob Roy replied, with great coolness,
‘Were the question about driving Highland stots or kyloes, Sandie, I
would yield to your superior skill; but as it respects the leading
of men, I must be allowed to be the better judge.’ ‘Did the matter
respect driving Glen-Eigas stots,’ answered Macpherson, ‘the question
with Rob would not be, which was to be last, but which was to be
foremost.’ Incensed at this sarcasm, Macgregor drew his sword, and
they would have fought upon the spot if their friends on both sides
had not interfered.
“Notwithstanding the sort of neutrality which Rob Roy had continued
to observe during the progress of the rebellion, he did not escape
some of its penalties. He was included in the act of attainder,
and the house in Breadalbane, which was his place of retreat, was
burned by General Lord Cadogan, when, after the conclusion of the
insurrection, he marched through the Highlands to disarm and punish
the offending clans. But upon going to Inverary with about forty or
fifty of his followers, Rob obtained favour, by an apparent surrender
of their arms to Colonel Patrick Campbell of Finnah, who furnished
them and their leader with protections under his hand. Being thus in
a great measure secured from the resentment of government, Rob Roy
established his residence at Craig Royston, near Loch Lomond, in the
midst of his own kinsmen, and lost no time in resuming his private
quarrel with the Duke of Montrose. For this purpose, he soon got on
foot as many men, and well armed too, as he had yet commanded. He
never stirred without a body guard of ten or twelve picked followers,
and without much effort could increase them to fifty or sixty.”[219]
For some years he continued to levy blackmail from those whose
cattle and estates he protected, and although an English garrison
was stationed at Inversnaid, near Aberfoyle, his activity, address,
and courage continually saved him from falling into their hands.
The year of his death is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been
after 1738. He died at an advanced age in his bed, in his own house
at Balquhidder. When he found death approaching, “he expressed,”
says Sir Walter Scott, “some contrition for particular parts of his
life. His wife laughed at these scruples of conscience, and exhorted
him to die like a man, as he had lived. In reply, he rebuked her for
her violent passions, and the counsels she had given him. ‘You have
put strife,’ he said, ‘between me and the best men of the country,
and now you would place enmity between me and my God.’ There is a
tradition noway inconsistent with the former, if the character of Rob
Roy be justly considered, that, while on his deathbed, he learned
that a person with whom he was at enmity, proposed to visit him.
‘Raise me from my bed,’ said the invalid, ‘throw my plaid around
me, and bring me my claymore, dirk, and pistols; it shall never be
said that a foeman saw Rob Roy Macgregor defenceless and unarmed.’
His foeman, conjectured to be one of the Maclarens, entered and
paid his compliments, inquiring after the health of his formidable
neighbour. Rob Roy maintained a cold haughty civility during their
short conference, and as soon as he had left the house, ‘Now,’ he
said, ‘all is over; let the piper play _Ha til mi tulidh_’ (we
return no more), and he is said to have expired before the dirge was
finished.” The grave of Macgregor, in the churchyard of Balquhidder,
is distinguished by a rude tombstone, over which a sword is carved.
Rob Roy had five sons--Coll, Ranald, James (called James Roy, after
his father, and James Mohr, or big James, from his height), Duncan,
and Robert, called Robin Oig, or Young Robin.
On the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745, the clan Gregor adhered
to the cause of the Pretender. A Macgregor regiment, 300 strong,
was raised by Robert Macgregor of Glencairnock, who was generally
considered chief of the clan, which joined the prince’s army. The
branch of _Ciar Mohr_, however, regarded William Macgregor Drummond
of Bohaldie, then in France, as their head, and a separate corps
formed by them, commanded by Glengyle, and James Roy Macgregor,
united themselves to the levies of the titular Duke of Perth, James
assuming the name of Drummond, the duke’s family name, instead of
that of Campbell. This corps was the relics of Rob Roy’s band, and
with only twelve men of it, James Roy, who seems to have held the
rank of captain or major, succeeded in surprising and burning, for
the second time, the fort at Inversnaid, constructed for the express
purpose of keeping the country of the Macgregors in order.
At the battle of Prestonpans, the Duke of Perth’s men and the
Macgregors composed the centre. Armed only with scythes, this party
cut off the legs of the horses, and severed, it is said, the bodies
of their riders in twain. Captain James Roy, at the commencement
of the battle, received five wounds, but recovered from them, and
rejoined the prince’s army with six companies. He was present at the
battle of Culloden, and after that defeat the clan Gregor returned
in a body to their own country, when they dispersed. James Roy was
attainted for high treason, but from some letters of his, published
in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ for December 1817, it appears that he had
entered into some communication with the government, as he mentions
having obtained a pass from the Lord Justice-clerk in 1747, which was
a sufficient protection to him from the military.
On James Roy’s arrival in France, he seems to have been in very poor
circumstances, as he addressed a letter to Mr Edgar, secretary to
the Chevalier de St George, dated Boulogne-sur-Mer, May 22, 1753,
craving assistance “for the support of a man who has always shown
the strongest attachment to his majesty’s person and cause.” To
relieve his necessities, James ordered his banker at Paris to pay
Macgregor 300 livres. James Roy, availing himself of a permission he
had received to return to Britain, made a journey to London, and had
an interview, according to his own statement, with Lord Holderness,
secretary of state. The latter and the under secretary offered him,
he says, a situation in the government service, which he rejected,
as he avers his acceptance of it would have been a disgrace to his
birth, and would have rendered him a scourge to his country. On this
he was ordered instantly to quit England. On his return to France,
an information was lodged against him by Macdonnell of Lochgarry,
before the high bailie of Dunkirk, accusing him of being a spy.
In consequence, he was obliged to quit that town and proceed to
Paris, with only thirteen livres in his pocket. In his last letter
to his acknowledged chief, Macgregor of Bobaldie, dated Paris, 25th
September 1754, he describes himself as being in a state of extreme
destitution, and expresses his anxiety to obtain some employment as a
breaker and breeder of horses, or as a hunter or fowler, “till better
cast up.” In a postscript he asks his chief to lend him his bagpipes,
“to play some melancholy tunes.” He died about a week after writing
this letter, it is supposed of absolute starvation.
It was not till 1784 that the oppressive acts against the Macgregors,
which, however, for several years had fallen into desuetude, were
rescinded by the British parliament, when they were allowed to resume
their own name, and were restored to all the rights and privileges
of British citizens. A deed was immediately entered into, subscribed
by 826 persons of the name of Macgregor, recognising John Murray
of Lanrick, representative of the family of Glencarnock, as their
chief, Murray being the name assumed, under the Proscriptive act, by
John Macgregor, who was chief in 1715. Although he secretly favoured
the rebellion of that year, the latter took no active part in it;
but Robert, the next chief, mortgaged his estate, to support the
cause of the Stuarts, and he commanded that portion of the clan who
acknowledged him as their head in the rebellion of 1745. Altogether,
with the Ciar Mohr branch, the Macgregors could then muster 700
fighting men. To induce Glencarnock’s followers to lay down their
arms, the Duke of Cumberland authorised Mr Gordon, at that time
minister of Alva, in Strathspey, to treat with them, offering them
the restoration of their name, and other favours, but the chief
replied that they could not desert the cause. They chose rather to
risk all, and die with the characters of honest men, than live in
infamy, and disgrace their posterity.
After the battle of Culloden, the chief was long confined in
Edinburgh castle, and on his death in 1758, he was succeeded by his
brother Evan, who held a commission in the 41st regiment, and served
with distinction in Germany. His son, John Murray of Lanrick, was the
chief acknowledged by the clan, on the restoration of their rights
in 1784. He was a general in the East India Company’s service, and
auditor-general in Bengal. Created a baronet of Great Britain 23d
July 1795, he resumed in 1822 the original surname of the family,
Macgregor, by royal license. He died the same year. The chiefship,
however, was disputed by the Glengyle family, to which Rob Roy
belonged.
Sir John Murray Macgregor’s only son, Sir Evan John Macgregor, second
baronet, was born in January 1785. He was a major-general in the
army, K.C.B., and G.C.H., and governor-general of the Windward Isles.
He died at his seat of government, 14th June 1841. By his wife, Lady
Elizabeth Murray, daughter of John, fourth Duke of Athole, he had
five sons and four daughters.
His eldest son, Sir John Athole Bannatyne Macgregor, third baronet,
born 20th January 1810, was lieutenant-governor of the Virgin
Islands, and died at Tortola, his seat of government, 11th May 1851.
He had four sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Sir Malcolm
Murray Macgregor, fourth baronet, was born 29th August 1834, and
styled of Macgregor, county Perth.
GRANT.
[Illustration: BADGE--Pine (or, according to some, Cranberry Heath).]